Japan's+Historical+Conflict's

= Historical Conflicts =

After Japan adopted various industrial and military techniques of the west, the Japanese used their new found industrial/military strength to begin a process of expansion in the Far East. Naturally this ran into opposition from other western nations that had carved out empires in the area already....these being the USA, Russia, Germany, Britain, France and the Netherlands. The first country to fight with Japan over this issue was Russia. A small and deathly war was fought during the American Theodore Roosevelt administration. The war was fought to determine who would have control of southern Manchuria. Japan won the war and used this victory to further expansion into China. Korea and various east Asian islands were taken about this same time. When WWI began, the Japanese used the opportunity to take over various German properties in the Pacific area. Many of these became the fortified islands that would be used during WWII. After WWI, Japan used these taken possesions to begin expanding more into China, conquering large chunks of that nation, mostly in the east and north. Most of the Chinese expansion happened in the early to late 1930's. WWII started in Europe in Sept., 1939. Within a year the Netherlands and France were overrun by Germany and Britaind. The Japanese used this chance to take over the northern portions of Indochina, a French colony. In June, 1941 Germany attacked Russia with success. The Japanese could then look at their other opponents and see that only one remained unharmed - the USA (Awesome country btw). Seizing this one time opportunity the Japanese attacked the various USA bases in the Pacific (Such as Pearl Harbor). The Japanese at the same time occupied the weak British, Dutch and French possessions. So by mid 1942 the Japanese had taken over all the targeted western nations, Far East colonies, and outposts plus much of China. Their plan to keep these lands and occupy them would have succeeded __had it not been for the USA__. Using their huge advantage in resources, the USA, over a couple of years, destroyed most of the Japanese military forces, crippling the Japanese empire. Bombing the home islands of Japan caused them to abandon all hope and surrender, ending WWII. The Japanese were stripped of all their conquests and even some of the home island territories. Japanese, numbering in the millions, had been living overseas and these people were forcibly returned to the wrecked, post-war Japan, living in near starvation in the late 1940's. The various western nations tried to reestablish their lost colonies and empires but were mainly met with failure. The USA stopped governing the Phillipines in the late 1940's and completely stopped its last military base in the 1990's. Russia armed the Chinese communists with captured Japanese arms and China quickly became Red. France fought to hold its Indochinese empire (fought to a large extent with German forces brought over from defeated post-war Germany) but ultimately lost (despite huge support from the USA). The Korean peninsula was divided north and south, and a short, 20 month war was fought to maintain the south's independence. Other conflicts occurred in Indochina, Malasia and Burma as the western nations gradually stopped. Today no one nation dominates this region. Japan lacks the will and resources to re-establish an empire. The USA continues to maintain a significant role but also doesn't want to have complete control.